What a fun and busy fall it has been! Dorian and Wynn have bumped up their schooling to 4 days a week now, Ben and Alex are running from homework to practice to bed time, and I've managed to escape for a girls trip to Florida amid all the craziness with my friends Hayley and Jaymie.

The babies had fun celebrating their 4th birthday... the theme for this year's party was Tigger and Pooh because Wynnie looks and acts chill like Winnie the Pooh (same body shape for sure!) and Dori is always climbing and rolling over him like Tigger. It's been neat these past couple of weeks to see Dori take an active interest in Wynnie. He calls out for him and rolls over to him to see what he is doing. Dori should work for Homeland Security someday because he has a never-ending need to know where everybody is and what everyone is doing. :)

Wynnie will be seeing a neurologist this week to check out his head... it has been growing at an abnormally fast rate so the neurologist will confirm if it's fluid collecting in the brain (hydrocephalus) and whether there is anything we can do about it without it being too invasive or risky of a procedure. As long as it's not causing him any immediate pain, we are happy with his cute big nugget as is.

Does this video work? While I was writing this blog entry, the motorized home health equipment folks came to test Dori out with his new power-chair. He won't receive it until at least 3 months from now so paperwork is underway to begin the ordering process. Viktoria and I were SCREAMING with excitement once Dori got a hang of it. He was so proud of himself. So so neat!

Ben and Alex finished another undefeated football season and are well into practicing for Big Red select basketball now. Great job Colts!!! Our boys all played well together and many of these boys have played football since they were 4/5 years old! It'll be sad to see the team break off a little but for next season all the parents know that Chris and his faithful Colts coaching staff are handing over the reigns to allow the kids to move onto the select football level. We are so proud of all of them!

Ben is still very obsessed with mansions and keeps wanting to visit the other side of our neighborhood to visit his friends that have "mansions". He even set up a date with a girl in his class and he kept waiting for her dad to come pick him up to visit her in her "mansion". Many hours later, he was disappointed that the dad never showed up to pick him up as Ben and the little girl had arranged in class. Well I guess at least Ben will have the ambition to "marry up". ha ha!!! We've talked to him at length about appreciating the lovely home we have and to not be envious of what others have --- but it tends to go out one ear and out the other.

Alex is busy in his world of comic books, action figures and Luna. Actually both boys can't get enough of Luna. Alex keeps himself busy with his school work and can call all the plays/penalties when he watches college and pro football. It's amazing how much his and Ben's knowledge of football has blossomed over the past year. Ben, Alex and Chris can now all scream at the TV together while they watch the Huskers. Wynnie just smiles at the chaos while Dori tries to imitate what they are screaming. It's more entertaining to watch them than the actual games.

Before we had the babies' birthday party, Ben kept on asking when the babies' friends would come over. I said "what friends?" and Ben said "How can they have a party without their friends coming over!" Since the boys were so worried that the babies didn't have any "friends" coming over, they set up a bunch of stuffed animals on the kitchen counter with hats and sunglasses to fill in as friends. Alex made a sign on the wall that read "Say Cheese" so that we'd all remember to smile for pictures. That really warmed my heart!!

Wishing you all a great fall season and a peaceful Thanksgiving with your friends and family. When you get a chance, come on by and visit... I'm sure Dori will love to show you all his new tricks!